A Polish developer managed to make Apple’s CarPlay system work on a Tesla Model 3. For this, he used a Raspberry Pi and a customized version of Android. Early versions required the use of a mouse to control the system. But the latest developments show that the system can also rely on the touch screen of the electric car. Demonstration.
Nowadays, all modern cars offer an advanced infotainment system to enjoy some connected services and interaction with smartphones. Some systems are proprietary, developed by the manufacturer. And others are common to several car brands. The two best known are Android-Auto from Google and CarPlay from Apple. There are others, such as Carlink, a solution presented by Oppo in October 2021. The advantage of these is to offer a better connection with the smartphone.
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Tesla integrates a proprietary system into its cars. The American brand prefers to keep control over the computer capabilities of its cars, for reasons of safety, but also of economy. The latter are therefore incompatible with third-party systems, such as CarPlay, while many drivers would like to be able to take advantage of the capabilities of their iPhone on board, in particular access to Apple Music. Will this ever happen? Nothing suggests that today. However, it is obvious that the huge screen of the Tesla would be ideal for using CarPlay.
A developer makes CarPlay work on his Tesla Model 3
This was demonstrated by Michał Gapiński, a Polish developer who managed to get CarPlay to work in his Tesla Model 3. A great technological feat that is obviously not within everyone’s reach. To achieve this result, he used a raspberry-pi equipped with an LTE connection for Internet access and WiFi to liaise with the Tesla system. On the latter, the Raspberry Pi, he installed a custom version of Android. He created a web version of CarPlay, installed on the micro-PC. Finally, he modified the DNS of the web browser of the car in order to bypass certain protections.
And voila : the browser connects to a web service that emulates CarPlay on the Raspeberry Pi. As you can see in the video above, the rendering is more than satisfactory. Somewhat ironically, the system does not use any Apple services or products. And it’s not over. In the days following the publication of this first video, which made the rounds of the Internet, Michał Gapiński continued to improve the system.
First he has improved WiFi connection, to reduce latency. Then he has added touch support, in order to control CarPlay from the screen of the Tesla instead of using a mouse connected to the Raspberry Pi. It also has adapted the Apple Music app alone, for those who do not have the use of the other bricks of CarPlay. You can see the result in the photo at the top of this article. He also promises to share his project, although native compatibility with Apple’s system would still be much more practical. Good luck at Tesla…
